Even elephants are afraid of roads

I was saddened, but not terrifically surprised to see a story today reporting on a Wildlife Conservation Society study regarding African elephants.   With new road construction cutting into roadless areas in central Africa, the elephants have apparently learned to equate roads with poachers.  As a result, the elephants are basically trapped into smaller and smaller areas of habitat.  As you can probably imagine, it turns out that elephants need pretty large areas of unroaded land to thrive.

In addition to the article referenced above, you can also find the WCS press release here.  The story is disturbing, with the researchers documenting significant changes in behavior among elephants as roads are punched into their habitat.  As the study's lead author, Dr. Stephen Blake put it, "Forest elephants are under siege with all of the graphic images that go with it – increasing the likelihood of fear, starvation, disease, massive stress, infighting, and social disruption."

Apparently new road construction into these areas has only increased since they completed their study, but the authors speculate that with some minor changes in planning, critical roadless habitat could be protected.  They argue that this would be good not just for the elephants, but for local people.  Let's hope they're right, and let's hope the governments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon consider these recommendations.  Unfortunately there was other news from the DRC today that indicates the level of challenge, and the likely priorities of the DRC government right now -- UN Peacekeepers were attacked while trying to protect an eastern province from being taken over by rebels.